UK Society of Editors celebrates Journalism Matters Week

The media has consistently risen to the challenge of keeping the public informed during the Covid-19 crisis, the Society of Editors (SoE) has said. Writing in support of Journalism Matters week which launches today (5-11 October) Alison Gow, President of the Society and Audience and Content Director North West for Reach plc said that the need for trusted, reliable journalism had never been greater than in recent months. She said: “”This year, when we have been kept apart from each other and so much of what is usual in our lives has been…Read more

Two Indian journalists denied justice after saying Punjab lawyer wasn’t qualified

  • Posted on September 30, 2020
  • /Under Legal
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the denial of justice in the case of a TV reporter in the state of Punjab, in northwestern India, who was tortured and then jailed for a month after questioning a lawyer’s qualifications. Now he and his cameraman are facing up to 22 years in prison in case brought by lawyers and, to cap it all, they cannot find a lawyer to defend them. Khush Dil News TV reporter Sunil Kumar Sain’s account of what happened after he was arrested on 26 June and taken to the Fazilka…Read more

Nigerian journalist Ime Sunday Silas held since August on cybercrime charge

Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalist Ime Sunday Silas, drop the charges against him, and reform the country’s cybercrime act to ensure it is not used against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 17, police in Uyo city, the capital of Nigeria’s southern Akwa-Ibom state, arrested Silas, an editor with the privately owned Global Concordnewspaper and publisher of the news website The Profile, according to Solomon Johnny, Global Concord’s editor-in-chief, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Silas was arrested after he arrived in the Ikot Akpan Abia district of Uyo to…Read more

Indian journalist attacked and newspaper threatened in Tripura state following chief minister’s criticism of press

Authorities in India’s Tripura state should drop any legal threats against publications there, thoroughly investigate attacks on journalists, and guarantee press freedom in the state, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 11, state Chief Minister Biplab Deb, a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, condemned recent local news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, which he alleged overstated the severity of the crisis, saying, “history will not forgive them [journalists], I shall not forgive them either,” according to news reports and a video of his remarks shared on Twitter. The following day, unidentified individuals…Read more

Pakistani journalists receive death threats after reporting called ‘fake news’ in TV program

Pakistani authorities should investigate threats made to journalists Ahmad Noorani and Gul Bukhari and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists have said. On August 27, Noorani, a co-founder and reporter at the independent investigative news website FactFocus, published an article that used pubic records to detail the financial assets of retired Army General Asim Saleem Bajwa, who chairs Pakistan’s Chinese-financed infrastructure projects and is a special assistant to the prime minister on information and broadcasting. On August 29, the privately owned TV broadcaster ARY News aired a segment, which CPJ viewed, that called…Read more

Arsonists torch office of independent newspaper Canal de Moçambique in Mozambique

Authorities in Mozambique should conduct a quick and thorough investigation into the arson attack on Canal de Moçambique, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 8 p.m. yesterday, in the capital, Maputo, unidentified individuals broke into the office used by the independent weekly investigative newspaper and its daily digital publication CanalMoz, poured gasoline on the furniture and equipment, and set it ablaze, according to news reports. The fire destroyed the newsroom, furniture, and all the equipment used for content production, as well as the paper’s archive, according to a statement by the Mozambican chapter of the…Read more

Ghanaian soldier beats journalist, seizes reporters’ camera and phones

Authorities in Ghana must conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the recent attack and harassment of journalists Stanley Nii Blewu and Joseph Armstrong Gold-Alorgbey, and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 12, in Accra, the capital, a soldier kicked and punched Blewu, a reporter with the privately owned TV3 broadcaster, while he and Gold-Alorgbey, also a TV3 reporter, were covering a local sanitation project, according to the journalists, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and a statement by the Ghana Journalists…Read more

Long-standing Voice of the Commonwealth dies

It is with the greatest sadness we report the unexpected death of Patsy Robertson, not only one of our Trustees but a valued friend and colleague. Patsy's contribution to the Commonwealth over the past 55 years cannot be underestimated and her wisdom and friendship were enjoyed and appreciated by many. Below, we reprint "An Appreciation" by long-time colleague Richard Bourne. She will be sorely missed. Patsy Robertson – an appreciation Richard Bourne The death of Patsy Robertson on 18 August 2020, only two years after the death of her friend Derek Ingram, is…Read more

Malaysian police raid Al-Jazeera’s office, seize computers in escalating legal harassment

Malaysian police raided Al-Jazeera’s Kuala Lumpur office and seized two computers in an ongoing criminal probe into the global broadcaster’s July 3 report on the government’s treatment of undocumented migrant workers during the COVID-19 crisis, news reports said. Six of Al-Jazeera’s Malaysia-based reporters and staff members are being investigated on criminal charges including sedition, defamation, and violation of the country’s Communications and Multimedia Act for the “101 East” program “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown,”reports said. In a statement, Al-Jazeera condemned the raid as a “troubling escalation” and called on Malaysian authorities to end investigations into their journalists.…Read more

Journalist Matiullah Jan abducted in Pakistan 1 day before Supreme Court hearing

Pakistan authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the disappearance of journalist Matiullah Jan and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This morning, several unidentified men intercepted Jan’s car in Islamabad’s G-6 Sector, forced him into another vehicle, and drove away, according to news reports, Abdul Razaq Jan, the journalist’s son, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview, and security footage of the abduction, which CPJ reviewed and which was shared on social media. In the footage, about a dozen men are seen exiting at least three vehicles and forcing a…Read more